(Note Language) Twitter is down one more follower, as Meek Mill is deactivating his account. The Philly native took to the platform Sunday to announce the news and explain the reason for his departure.
“Ima deactivate Twitter forever and go to a new social where it’s more good vibes based off building, creating and motivation,” he tweeted, per 2Cool2Blog. “Whoever run my sh** turn this off forever … ima takeover my YouTube account to replace me interacting with supports! Too many bots and weird people.”
Meek is the latest celebrity to exit Twitter, although it’s for different reasons than those who departed before him. Many, including Toni Braxton, Shonda Rhimes and Whoopi Goldberg, left the social media platform after Elon Musk was named its CEO.
In response to the backlash, Musk said he’d step down if the majority of Twitter users thought he should; 57.5% voted in favor of him leaving, while 42.5% voted against it.
With Twitter users looking for Musk to bow out of his latest role, Snoop Dogg is wondering whether he should be the one to replace the entrepreneur. The rapper tweeted a poll along with the question, “Should I run Twitter?” As of this story, 81% voted yes; the poll shuts down Monday night.
Latto brought some holiday cheer to her hometown of Clayco, Georgia, over the weekend. The rapper and her Win Some Give Some Foundation hosted the second annual Christmas In Clayco event Sunday at the Carl Rhodenizer Recreation Center.
Dressed as Mrs. Claus, Latto reportedly donated gifts — including computers, tablets and bicycles — meals and essential items to 500 families in need, according to People. Her philanthropic efforts were awarded with the presentation of “Latto Day” on December 18 in Clayton County, Georgia, and the key to the city.
“I owe a lot of my success to Clayton County, so it feels really good to be here,” Latto said in a statement. “My old school Rex Mill (Middle School) is literally two minutes down the street and (as) we were driving past it, I was like, ‘Oh my God. Everything is coming full circle.’ I’m so blessed and happy to share my blessing.”
Dionne Warwick has made a splash on Twitter in recent years, and she’s not ready to give up on it like some others have following Elon Musk‘s purchase of the platform. In fact, in a new interview, she tells People she wants to have a word with Musk to understand his true intentions with the social media site.
“I have to meet him,” she says. “I know a lot of people have walked away from Twitter. That’s prior to knowing exactly what he’s going to do. He’s new to the game.”
She says that while she is all for freedom of speech, “There is away to do it.” If she does, in fact, get to meet him, she says, “That’s one of the conversations I’m going to have with him. What is your true intent? I understand your freedom of speech attitude but how are you going to contain it, so it does not get out of hand?”
It was announced last week that Henry Cavill would not return as Superman after all in Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC Comics-based universe, and ever since, fans have been vocal about it online.
Actually, it’s getting downright nasty out there, with much of the ire coming from director Zack Snyder‘s rabid fanbase and aimed at James Gunn, one of the two guys in charge of the costumed heroes’ fates.
Gunn and his producing partner Peter Safran have apparently nixed Cavill, and likely Gal Gadot‘s Wonder Woman, and are reportedly mulling a new role for Jason Momoa after his second Aquaman movie opens. Further, Gunn has talked to Ben Affleck about stepping behind the camera and evidently not back into the batsuit as he’d done for Snyder.
Numerous “Snyderverse” fans started posting box office numbers and Rotten Tomatoes scores of the previous Warner Bros. DC movies, including Aquaman and Wonder Woman, versus those from Gunn’s offerings, The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker.
Others were way more personal, taking shots at the Twitter scandal that once got Gunn fired — temporarily — from ABC News’ parent company Disney and its Marvel Cinematic Universe.
To that end, Gunn fired back Monday afternoon in a lengthy Twitter thread. “One of the things Peter & I were aware of when we took the job … was a certain minority of people online that could be, well, uproarious & unkind, to say the least,” he began.
Gunn insisted the choices they make “are based upon what we believe is best for the story & best for the DC characters who have been around for nearly 85 years” and “are made with sincere hearts & integrity & always with the story in mind.”
Gunn also added, “No one loves to be harassed or called names – but, to be frank, we’ve been through significantly worse. Disrespectful outcry will never, ever affect our actions.”
(WASHINGTON) — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday temporarily stopped the expiration of the immigration restriction Title 42, which was scheduled to lift on Wednesday, after 19 states filed an appeal.
Roberts’ brief order did not discuss the merits of the case. The administrative stay gives the justices enough time to consider the states’ appeal, given the looming deadline for Title 42 to end.
Roberts ordered responses to his order to be filed by Tuesday.
The states had asked the Supreme Court to intervene and keep Title 42 in place — contending that not doing so “will cause a crisis of unprecedented proportions at the border.”
“Getting rid of Title 42 will recklessly and needlessly endanger more Americans and migrants by exacerbating the catastrophe that is occurring at our southern border,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement. “Unlawful crossings are estimated to surge from 7,000 per day to as many as 18,000.”
The policy known as Title 42 started in 2020, under President Donald Trump, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and has since been used to expel migrants from the southern border more than 2.4 million times on the basis of public health concerns.
Due to the rapid nature of the expulsions, which usually take place in a matter of hours, access to asylum and other humanitarian protections is sharply curtailed.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocates have been waging a legal battle against the order, claiming it violates federal and international law.
In Monday’s application for a stay, the states, which are mostly Republican-led, again argued that lifting Title 42 will create an influx of unauthorized migrants who will unduly burden government services like law enforcement, education and health care.
Border Patrol made a record 2.2 million apprehensions along the southern border this past fiscal year. Meanwhile, the Biden administration removed 1.4 million people under both Title 42 and the standard immigration authority, Title 8.
The states also maintained that the federal government is essentially trying to have it both ways on the controversial policy — what the states call “collusion and contradiction” — because the government first defended Title 42 earlier in the litigation and then switched sides and supported the lower court decision to strike it down.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that Title 42 was “arbitrary and capricious” and that its public health impact was minimal.
Sullivan set a Wednesday deadline to end the protocols.
A federal appeals court on Friday denied the states’ effort to preserve Title 42.
The states sought a stay from Roberts, who oversees the appellate circuit handling the case, as well as for the full Supreme Court to hear their appeal while Title 42 remains in place. The justices could agree to hear the appeal by granting a writ of certiorari.
There is no set timeline for this.
The appellate ruling last week was unanimous — and procedural. The lower court judges found that the states became involved too late in the process, given their purported alarm.
“In this case, the inordinate and unexplained untimeliness of the States’ motion to intervene on appeal weighs decisively against intervention,” the panel wrote, noting that the lawsuit had been pending for almost two years.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday, ahead of the temporary stay, that the administration was still preparing to end the Title 42 protocols as ordered.
“What I can tell you is we are required by a court order to lift Title 42. That’s Dec. 21. And we’re going to comply with that,” she said.
In a statement last week, after the appeals court ruled against the states, White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan said that the administration “will continue to fully enforce our immigration laws and work to expand legal pathways for migration while discouraging disorderly and unsafe migration.”
“To be clear: the lifting of the Title 42 public health order does not mean the border is open,” Hasan said then. “Anyone who suggests otherwise is doing the work of smugglers spreading misinformation to make a quick buck off of vulnerable migrants.”
In a statement on Monday following the stay, the Department of Homeland Security said, in part: “The Title 42 public health order will remain in effect at this time and individuals who attempt to enter the United States unlawfully will continue to be expelled to Mexico.
“While this stage of the litigation proceeds, we will continue our preparations to manage the border in a safe, orderly, and humane way when the Title 42 public health order lifts.”
The department urged Congress to approve more funding for the border.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.
When Robert Plant and Alison Krauss first collaborated on their 2007 album, Raising Sand, it resulted in them winning the 2009 Grammy for Album of the Year. It took 14 years for them to come together again for 2021’s Raising the Roof. So, why did it take so long to reunite?
In an interview with Billboard, Plant insists it was really just a matter of scheduling.
“I’m not in control of my own time, I just find the momentum in a project and go with it,” Plant shares, noting “if I’d finish something and I was really looking forward to doing something fresh, maybe Alison was in the middle of one of her projects, and that’s how it was.” He adds, “It was no negotiation except for with the calendar and with time.”
Of course, coming together did prove to be a success once again, with their latest up for three Grammy Awards. So, with the huge amount of success they’ve had working together, is it possible we’ll see another album from the pair?
“I can’t see any reason why not,” he says. “I suppose if we wait another 14 years it could be a bit dicey for me, to be honest. I might find it a little bit difficult hitting a top C.” He adds, “But we can say it really works well, and we enjoy each other and that’s a great thing — so it seems like a great idea.”
While he admits there are other Santa helpers out there, the real Santa, Santa J. Claus, has become an influencer on, where else, TikTok.
@SantaJClaus has some 4.4 million followers on the social media platform, spreading Christmas cheer wherever his videos pop up.
In addition to in-person visits, Santa J. Claus tells ABC Audio his TikTok channel allows him to make virtual visits to kids in the hospital, putting smiles on the faces of children the world over who can’t get home for the big day.
Santa tells ABC Audio that as soon as he got on “the Tickytock,” as he calls it, he knew he’d found a perfect place to reach as many people as he could. “It was quite clear the very first moments that there was a need and hopefully I could, in whatever way possible, be able to fill it in my special way.”
He explained even jolly ol’ St. Nick was surprised by how quickly his account took off. “I saw that there was a bakery baking cookies and I thought I would react to the bakery baking cookies,” he shared with a hearty ho-ho-ho.
“And then, my friend, I posted a video and in just a few short moments it had 50,000 views, 60,000 views, 100,000 views, 200,000 views. And then the single day, my very first day on the Tickytock, I had 150,000 followers,” he adds with a laugh.
Santa closed with a holiday greeting for all. “From my heart to yours: I’m wishing you and the audience to all of those within the sound of my voice a wonderful season and beyond filled with love and joy, peace and happiness and all good things. And certainly a very, very Merry, Merry Christmas.”
Puddle of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin has opened up about his infamous cover of Nirvana‘s “About a Girl.”
Scantlin performed the Bleach cut during a 2020 radio appearance, and the rendition was less than well received. Video of the cover went viral as the internet made fun of Scantlin’s strained vocal delivery with comments such as “Plot twist: This is why she hates him.”
At the time, Scantlin responded by criticizing “toxic people” and later uploaded a South Park-esque cartoon in which he apologizes to an animated Kurt Cobain. Two years later, Scantlin discussed the performance in an interview with Songfacts, sharing that it happened during a “tiring day.”
“I had already performed five or six songs at one time, and by the time I got to [‘About a Girl’] — which I shouldn’t even have done because I cannot nail that song — I was a little tired,” Scantlin says. “It looked and sounded like total s***.”
Looking on the optimistic side, Scantlin adds, “But live to fight another day, dude.”
Meanwhile, Puddle of Mudd has been working on a new album to follow 2019’s Welcome to Galvania.
The Killers fans were transported to the ’70s for a bit during the band’s concert at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on Monday.
The band is known for throwing in covers during their sets. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this show was no exception, although this time The Killers brought out America’s Gerry Beckley for a performance of his band’s classic track “Sister Golden Hair.”
“Sister Golden Hair,” written by Beckley, was featured on America’s 1975 album, Hearts, and went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. It was their second single to reach number one, following “A Horse with No Name.”
MGM dropped two sneak peeks of the upcoming third Creed movie on Monday. The first was an official trailer of the movie, which marks the directorial debut of its star, Michael B. Jordan.
As seen in the teaser trailer, Creed III shows Jordan’s Adonis Creed welcoming his old friend Damian (Jonathan Majors) after an 18-year stint in prison and taking him under his wing in the ring. However, Damian turns on his old friend and wants to take the title from him. As MGM teases, “Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian – a fighter who has nothing to lose.”
“I’m coming for everything!” Majors warns Creed.
Tessa Thompson‘s Bianca tells Creed, “Then maybe you just have to fight him.”
As both men train for their showdown, a title card reads, “There’s no enemy like the past.”
Meanwhile, MGM also released an IMAX featurette with director Jordan taking viewers behind the scenes of the movie, which was shot for the huge format.
“To be able to step behind the camera, and get a chance to elevate and evolve this story, is something I’m eternally grateful for,” Jordan says.
“Creed III is not your typical boxing story,” Jordan says, explaining it is the first sports film to be shot on IMAX cameras, giving you a chance to see “every bead of sweat … every impact, the ripples in the skin … and really immerse yourself if this world.”
